All-Star Survivor: Hawaii Finale The Best of the Best (part 1)

Manakai Tribe (white): Alicia Calaway, John Carroll, Gretchen Cordy, Vecepia Towery

Click here to watch the All-Star Hawaii opening credits!

DAY 37

It was a warm Sunday morning.

Dawn broke over camp early, illuminating four figures sleeping outside, on the ground, around their campfire.

Last night had been especially warm and humid. It had been especially warm and humid, even by Hawaiian standards. So the four players had decided to have a go at it, and try to sleep outside. Rather than remain cramped up inside the closed quarters of the Manakai shelter for yet another night of restless sleep, John, Vecepia, Alicia, and Gretchen had decided to spend the night under the stars, just to see how it went. And apparently it had gone quite well. All four of them were currently curled up peacefully, sleeping the morning away in giant leaf beds.

It was clear that nobody was getting up particularly early today.

Instead of rising early, the four Manakais just lay there, sleeping. Or, to be more exact, exhausted. Even Gretchen. Just like the other three, she was bound and determined not to get up with the crack of dawn today. She was bound and determined to just lay here, and enjoy the quiet. To just lay here, and enjoy the blissfulness that came with one full hour of Survivor without things like negotiations. Or strategy.

Or immunity.

No siree, there was not going to be any plotting or chicanery around camp this morning. No way. Not after thirty-six days of emotional hell there wasn't. The Manakais had decided to take this morning off. And why wouldn't they? The four of them were all completely drained, both emotionally and physically.

After thirty-six days, it finally felt like the end. For all of them.

This had been a long game.





^^





Gretchen Cordy moaned loudly as she rolled onto her back around 10:00 in the morning. And she winced with pain as she leaned onto her right shoulder.

Ouch.

Were her arms really that sore? That wasn't a good sign. Yesterday afternoon's immunity challenge, the hanging rings one, had apparently been exceptionally unkind to her. It currently felt like she had two lead weights hanging uselessly from her shoulders. Her arms felt like they were going to be worthless today.

Gretchen struggled to sit up. Yow. Even that was a struggle.

And that was when she realized that she wasn't alone.

"Need some help?" Vecepia asked her, concerned, as she watched Gretchen struggle to even work her way up to a sitting position. "You sound like you're in pain."

"I am in pain," Gretchen moaned. "My shoulders are killing me."

"Yeah, I was worried about that," noted Vee. "You probably yanked them out of the socket or something during the challenge."

Gretchen just winced and started massaging her shoulders. Again, knots and inflammation and sore tendons everywhere. Man, this was going to be a long day today.

"We need to talk," said Vee, plainly.

Gretchen heard this and she looked around. And that was when she noticed that their fellow Manakai conspirators were gone. Both John and Alicia had apparently left camp and were off going for a walk. There was no sign of either one of the two of them anywhere.

"Wow," boggled Gretchen, "Did I really sleep that long? John and Alicia are even up? Holy crap."

She was now sitting fully upright, so she started rolling her neck back and forth, in an attempt to get the circulation going. Anything to get the blood flowing again. After all, this was going to be an important day today.

Meanwhile Vee just sat there next to her in the sand. She sat there very patiently, as if she were just waiting for an opening.

Which, essentially, she was.

"So what are we talking about?" Gretchen asked, quietly, once she realized Vee had been waiting for her.

"About the vote."

"Let me guess," Gretchen grinned, "You're worried that Alicia and John are going to the end together, and now you need me to help you."

She looked over at Vecepia, smiling. And Vee could clearly see that Gretchen was no idiot. At least not anymore, she wasn't. She was no longer a strategic simpleton in this game. Gretchen clearly had a handle on what was going on by this point.

"John and I were supposed to be together," Vee explained. "We had a final two deal and everything. We made it a long time ago."

"So I figured."

Vee just sat there and nodded her head, a little bit bitterly. And Gretchen was surprised. Because that wasn't a look you saw on Vecepia's face very often. She was normally as cheerful and as optimistic as the day was long.

To see Vecepia looking anything other than happy and confident was... well... it was a little bit weird.

"So let me guess," Gretchen joked, in an attempt to break through the awkwardness. "You want to make a final two deal with me instead."

Vecepia said nothing. She just sat there, quietly. It was clear she was mulling the entire situation over in her head.

Meanwhile, Gretchen's curiosity was now piqued.

She had expected a quick shoot-down of the "final two" joke idea. She had expected it to be shot down in a second. Yet it hadn't happened. Vecepia was still just sitting there, thinking things over. She appeared to be silently debating this.

Hmm, now this was getting strange.

"There's no way I could ever beat you, is there?" Vee finally asked, plaintively. She looked like she was sort of resigned to this fact.

"Beat me?" said Gretchen. She shrugged. "I don't know. Why couldn't you?"

Vecepia just shot her a strange little look. Enough. No more jokes. She didn't appreciate the sarcasm.

"Look," Gretchen explained, sobering up quickly, "You're talking about a Survivor jury, Vee. A jury made up of some very opinionated people. I don't think that anybody is a sure-fire win at this point. Everybody has some sort of enemy on that jury." She stared Vecepia directly in the eyes. "Maybe even ones that you don't even know about."

Vecepia just sat there and nodded.

Again, she looked resigned.

She looked like she hated where the two of them were going with this.

"So you think your deal with John is dead?" Gretchen asked, curiously. "For sure? It's done?"

Vee nodded.

"As long as Alicia is here, it is," she said. "We pretty much learned that last night."

And there it was. The problem. John's actions had given her all the evidence she was going to need on this issue.

Vecepia Towery had been given one hour of warning that Tina was going to be going home over Alicia at Tribal Council last night. That was it. One hour. From her supposed number one ally. She had been given sixty minutes to react to the fact that not only was her entire endgame now ruined, John had apparently decided it was now completely out of her hands, and she had no say in the matter whatsoever. He had told her that the vote for Tina was essentially a "done deal." Vecepia couldn't have stopped it even if she had wanted to.

Although, to be honest, the real issue here wasn't the warning. It wasn't the timeline. It wasn't even the lack of respect. The real issue here was that John had chosen Alicia over Vecepia. That was the kicker.

Vecepia Towery, for all her skill and stealth in this game, was angry because she had been snubbed. John Carroll, her supposed final two partner, had chosen to go to the end with a Keko instead of an Ahi. He had chosen to go with "that other woman" instead of with her. And this was particularly galling to her. They had made a deal about this!

And what that meant was-- no matter what happened the rest of the game-- it was now time for some fireworks.

It was time for Vecepia to answer this snubbing with a rebuttal.

"So you really want a final two deal?" Gretchen asked, surprised. Wow. Now wasn't this interesting?

"I'd be open to talk about it," Vecepia shrugged.

And talk they would. Talk they would have to.

The only problem was that it couldn't be now.

Because here came John.

He was returning to camp.





^^





Gretchen thought she was on the road to having some sort of a final two deal with Vecepia. After all, Gretchen had no allies left in the game, Vecepia appeared to have no allies left in the game, why wouldn't they consider working together on this? At this point, it would sort of be foolish not to. It was two against two. Do the math.

The problem, of course, was that Vecepia wasn't all that interested in going to the end against Gretchen. Never had been.

What she really wanted was Alicia (and Gretchen) out of the picture, and the sooner, the better.

And now that she finally had a chance to talk to John alone, for the first time all day, it was time to address that.

"I am voting for Alicia tonight at Tribal Council," Vee said, the moment she and John were finally alone. She turned and looked her supposed final two partner in the eye. "If she doesn't win immunity tonight, she's gone."

This, of course, was the sentence that John had desperately been hoping to avoid today.

"Hang on, Vee," he said, "Let's talk about this."

"I don't want to talk about it."

John winced. Because for perhaps the first time all game, Vecepia looked like she was legitimately angry with him. For the first time all game, it looked like he might have managed to push her too far. And he immediately regretted this.

"Look, Vee," he implored, "I couldn't stop what happened last night. I was backed into a corner. Tina was going to go anyway. It wasn't my fault."

"Regardless. You should have warned me."

"I did warn you!"

"You only told me right before Tribal Council!"

John just stepped back and sighed. Because man, this was going to get sticky now. An angry and suspicious Alicia on one side? And an angry and suspicious Vecepia on the other side? He couldn't very well please both of them and take them to the end. How was he going to handle this? He wasn't used to Vecepia actually being forceful about things.

"My deal with you," he finally explained, patiently, "Is to take you to the final two. And I am going to honor that."

"Promise?"

"Swear to God, Vee. I've never plotted against you."

"This better be the truth," said Vecepia. "Because, you know, I could go to Gretchen right now and put together a final two deal. We've already been talking about it."

John, despite his better instincts, visibly scoffed at this.

"Why?" he asked her. "Why would you do that?"

"Self protection."

"Yeah, but it would be stupid."

Stupid or not, Vecepia didn't care. She was tired of being the doormat in John's plans. She was tired of being his supposed second wheel, who would follow him wherever he went. She was tired of just being "the other Ahi." They were in the final four now, and it was time to pull rank. After all, John wasn't the one who had actually won Survivor before. Vee was. It was time to put her foot down on this.

"If Alicia doesn't win immunity, she's gone," Vee reiterated.

"You'd vote her out over Gretchen?" John asked, surprised. "Even if Gretchen were vulnerable?"

"I want Alicia out of here," Vee repeated. "I don't want you screwing me over and taking her to the final two. Because I don't trust you, John. I don't want you to have that option anymore."

John just put his hands on his hips and let out a deep breath.

Great.

This was going to turn into a clusterfuck of a final four Tribal Council, now wasn't it?





^^





John and Vecepia were in the middle of negotiations.

Gretchen was currently down by the beach, trying to work out the kinks in her arms.

And where was the fourth member of the Manakai final four? The enforcer Alicia?

Well she was spending most of her time this morning in interviews with the producers. She was staying as far away from camp as she could possibly get. After all, as far as Alicia was concerned, she was already a lock for the final three. Nothing that she could accomplish back at camp would be able to change that. She had a final two deal with Gretchen, she had a final two deal with John. She wasn't going anywhere tonight.

The only thing that could happen if she were back at camp is that she could say something stupid, and possibly mess things up.

And that's why she opted to spend most of her morning away from camp, hanging out with the Survivor production crew.

Luckily, being this close to the end of the game seemed to be having a calming effect on Alicia Calaway this morning. She was laughing and joking around. She didn't appear to be stressed in the slightest. It was obvious that-- after a week or so of being a badass enforcer-- she was finally letting her hair down and was enjoying the moment.

The enforcer was gone. Long gone. She was back to the sarcastic, funny, fun-to-be-with Alicia. The one the producers had fallen in love with during casting.

Needless to say, they enjoyed seeing her again.

"So will you be sad when all of this is over?" came the interview question.

"When the game's over?" asked Alicia. "Hell no I won't be sad. This game is brutal. It drives you crazy."

"Even if you win?"

"I don't think I'm going to win."

"Why not?"

"Well because look at who I'm up against," she explained. "I mean, either I go to the end against Gretchen, or I go to the end against John. It doesn't look that good for me either way. Both of them have more friends on that jury than I do."

"You don't think you could make it to the end against Vecepia?"

Alicia shrugged.

That scenario would be ideal, of course, but at this point it also looked to be extremely unlikely. After all, after last night's vote, Vee was probably gunning for Alicia pretty hardcore back at camp right now. That's what any smart player in her right mind would be doing. Alicia being out of here was in Vecepia's best interest, and both of them knew it.

Oh yeah, and Vee was also the only player who Alicia didn't have a final two deal with at the moment.

That posed a bit of a problem.

"So then what's your deal with Gretchen?" the producer asked. "What are the specifics?"

"There are no specifics," Alicia smiled. "She takes me to the final two. No questions asked."

"She'll never vote you out?"

"She better not. Not if she knows what's good for her. I'm the only reason she's even here right now."

Alicia's answer just hung there in the air, like a rain cloud. She didn't elaborate on the reciprocal deal. And she had done that intentionally. She didn't make any mention of what she, Alicia, had promised to Gretchen in return.

So the producer decided to jump in and ask a follow up question, although he already knew the answer.

"So then what do you owe Gretchen? Did you promise to take her to the final two as well?"

Alicia simply looked up and smiled. Then she shook her head. That had been an entirely one-sided deal she had made with Gretchen last night. It had been all in Alicia's favor. And everyone in this immediate conversation was completely aware of this.

Alicia owed Gretchen nothing at this point. Nothing, nothing, nothing.

Never had.

"So Gretchen could theoretically go home tonight?" came the next question.

"Well I would imagine it comes down to her or Vecepia," Alicia shrugged. "I mean, if you do the math, it sort of works out to the two of them. It will all come down to immunity."

"So you think it's probably going to all come down to Fallen Comrades?"

Alicia just shrugged. Sure, why not? After all, isn't that what Survivor always used in the final four? Wasn't that pretty much historical precedent by this point? Hadn't the players been planning for that outcome-- Fallen Comrades at the final four-- since day one?

"So if it comes down to Fallen Comrades," came the producer's question, "Then who wins immunity? Gretchen or Vee?"

"It could go either way. They're both good at that stuff."

"Yeah but if you had to pick one. Gretchen or Vee?"

Alicia didn't even hesitate in her response.

"Well, Vee's the only one who writes things down in a notebook..."




^^




The time for today's big immunity challenge was drawing near.

After all, with only three days left in the game, there were no more off days in All-Star Survivor. Every day from here on out would either have an immunity challenge, Tribal Council, or both. Today happened to be one of those "both" days.

The four Manakais still had a lot of drama and excitement yet in store for them tonight.

As Alicia finished up her interview, and Gretchen sat down on a raft to give a producer interview of her own ("75% of this game is luck. There is no definite strategy. And anyone who tells you otherwise is full of crap"), John and Vecepia traipsed through the forest to retrieve what promised to be one of the more important tree mails in All-Star Survivor. After all, this was the big one. Whoever lost this challenge was going to have a big old fat target on their back tonight at Tribal Council.

When push came to shove, and you got down to Fallen Comrades in the final four, the challenges became epic. You pretty much needed to win all of them.

John reached into the tree mail box, and he retrieved the flat brown piece of parchment.

He pulled it out, and looked at it.

His face immediately fell.

"What?" Vee asked, suspiciously.

"Well you know how you were expecting this to be Fallen Comrades?" John asked, "You know how you've been toting that little notebook around for thirty six days?"

"Yeah."

"Well you might as well go toss it in the fire. It isn't going to help you tonight."

"What??"

John showed her the mysterious treemail.




^^




"Map, map, everywhere a map.
But who knows where you'll be found?
Be the first to reach home,
And then you'll be safe.
By reaching the hallowed ground."

An hour later, Vecepia finally read the mail out loud to the rest of the tribe. The four of them looked around at one another, and exchanged puzzled looks. Well now wasn't this interesting?

No Fallen Comrades?

"Man..." joked Alicia. Then she raised her voice and looked at the sky. "Producers, you suck!"

This was a sentiment that was shared by pretty much all of them. After all, Fallen Comrades might not have been the easiest challenge in the world, but at least it was something familiar. It was the type of challenge where you knew exactly what to expect, and exactly what you would be getting.

It was also the only type of challenge that Gretchen felt particularly comfortable with right now. A physical challenge? With her arm weakness problem? This wasn't encouraging.

And here Alicia had been paying attention to all these personal details about people. John, too. The two of them had spent thirty-six days trying to make friends with people they had no respect for.

And now the producers were saying it was for nothing? They had learned Boston Rob's mom's name for nothing?

Those bastards!

"You mean I didn't have to pay attention to people like Sue and Rob?" John asked, incredulously. "I could have been ignoring them??"

"I even learned Richard's favorite color!" joked Alicia.

That one got a laugh out of the group.

"Well, it just goes to show you," said Vee. "You never know what you're gonna get out here."

She tried to put on a happy face for posterity. But deep down it was clear she was crushed. You could just see it in her body language. After all, Fallen Comrades had been Vecepia's bread and butter out here. She had depended on it. And now to not have it? When she had been so certain that she would?

All Vee knew about this challenge -- whatever it was-- was that she suddenly felt vulnerable.





^^




Obviously, the fact that the final four immunity challenge was going to be something other than Fallen Comrades was a little unnerving. Okay, for some of the players, like Vecepia, it was actually a lot unnerving. She was already in a minor panic over this fact.

But in actuality, that wasn't the aspect of tonight's challenge that was the single most troubling.

The big issue, the one that frightened them all, was the fact that the challenge was scheduled to take place at sundown. And at Tribal Council.

That meant there would be no room for discussions between the challenge and the vote.

"Alright, so how do want to play this?" John asked aloud to the rest of the group, once he put two and two together and realized the ramifications of tonight's change in decorum. "Do we want to talk about the vote now? Or what?" He looked around. "Negotiations at Tribal Council?"

"I don't think I have to talk about anything," Gretchen shrugged. "I already know where I stand. If I don't win immunity, I'm probably gone."

She stood there and waited. She hoped that someone would jump in and rebut that. But, as she expected, no one did. It turned out she was dead on in her assessment of this situation. Without immunity tonight, Gretchen Cordy was toast. All four of them knew it.

"You know," she joked, "one of you at least could have tried to deny that. That would have been the polite thing to do."

"Sorry," John shrugged, helplessly.

What did the woman want? For them to lie to her?

"Eh, it's okay," Gretchen shrugged back. "It'll just make things more interesting when I do win immunity."

That, of course, was the one scenario that John didn't want to think about right now. The "I have to choose between Alicia and Vecepia" scenario. That was the one decision he was hoping to put off until the final three. He was obviously hoping for some sort of a Gretchen catastrophe tonight.

"Well what if Gretchen does win immunity?" Vee asked, curiously. "I mean, what then? Do we want to talk about it first? Talk about it now? Or what?"

Vee knew she wasn't to get much of an answer. And, of course, she didn't. This was far too dicey a conversation to be having at this point in the game. Nobody wanted to play the theoretical "what if" game until it was strategically necessary. John, in particular, seemed to be adamantly aware of this.

Alicia, standing off to one side, simple folded her arms across her chest and said nothing.

After all, she knew she wasn't going anywhere tonight.

It was Gretchen or Vecepia tonight. Take your pick.

"What I think we should do," said John. Then he quickly corrected himself. "Um... I mean what I think I'd like to do, is just wait until Tribal Council. I don't think any good can come of us having this conversation now. I think it will just make things a lot more uncomfortable around camp. And I don't think we need that today."

He looked over at Vecepia. Was she cool with that proposal?

Vee shrugged. Yeah, she was okay with it. Fine.

Then John looked over at Alicia. He wanted to see if she was okay with this decision too.

Alicia said nothing. She just nodded her head. She seemed to be on board with no drama around camp today, as well.

There would be no negotiations today.

At least... not unless they were necessary.

"Good," sighed John, relieved. He slowly tore up the tree mail. "I say we just get back to our regular routine tonight, and we have dinner a little bit early, and then we head off to Tribal Council and the immunity challenge. I say we don't even think about how we're going to vote tonight until we get there. Sound good?"

He looked around at the three of them.

The only one who showed the slightest look of annoyance over this idea was Gretchen.

"You're fine with that, Gretchen?" John asked.

"Actually, no, I'm not fine with it."

"Well then what do you propose?"

John just stared at her, blankly. And Gretchen stared right back. She didn't know what she wanted to propose here. She knew she wanted to mix things up a little bit today, but she wasn't sure how. It appeared that none of them-- save for Vecepia, way back first thing in the morning-- wanted anything to do with her today. She wasn't sure any of them would sit down and negotiate with her right now, even if they should.

"Oh, never mind," Gretchen finally sighed. "If you guys want silence, I'll let you have silence. I won't bother you. Just team up, whatever, and do your thing. I'll stay to myself today."

But deep down, in her mind, she was trying to send them warning signals.

You see, Gretchen knew that she was going to win immunity tonight. There was not so much as a shred of doubt in her head. They were going to do everything they could to try and stop her, they were going to throw every trick in the book at her, but it wasn't going to work. She simply wanted it too bad. There was no way she wasn't going to be wearing that immunity lei around her neck when the four of them voted tonight. She could already see it crystal clear in her mind. It was going to happen.

And... well... if they three of them knew what was good for them, they might want to start planning for that.




^^




No negotiations today? Fuck that. That wasn't how this game worked.

Vecepia pulled Gretchen aside not more than five minutes after John's speech about "let's all keep our opinions to ourselves tonight."

Because unlike Alicia and John, Vee was desperate to cover herself.

"If you win immunity tonight," Vee pleaded, nervously. "Please don't vote me out. I'll do anything."

Gretchen just laughed. Well, she was glad to see at least one of them had some actual forethought about this.

"Who says I'm winning immunity?" Gretchen asked, slyly. "I mean, as far as the four of us know, I'm the one going home tonight. Right?"

"Yeah but I don't want you to go home," Vee said. "I want Alicia to go home."

This, of course, was not necessarily true. Vecepia wanted Gretchen out of here, bad. But she was taking a calculated risk here. There were definitely benefits in saying this phrase to this particular player at this particular time. After all, if Gretchen did win immunity tonight, if she did somehow pull a miracle out of her butt, then Vecepia wanted it to be known on record that she had asked for help first.

After all, Vecepia was no dummy. If two people ask you for assistance, you tend to side with the one who asked before you had immunity. That's just common sense. That's just basic psychology.

The only thing Vecepia was doing here was covering her bases.

"So you'd vote for Alicia even if I didn't have immunity tonight?" Gretchen asked, surprised. Wait, hadn't they already had this conversation today? What was this? The follow up?

Vecepia didn't even pause.

"Yes," she nodded.

Vecepia promised this, but she did it through protests and gritted teeth. After all, she knew she was wandering into dangerous territory here. She knew she was playing with fire. One challenge where Gretchen didn't win immunity, and she was in for some pain. She really hoped this gamble didn't backfire on her.

"You know, I'd love to take you up on that..." Gretchen nodded, "But at the same time, there's sort of a problem here."

Problem? Vecepia looked worried. Huh? What problem? How could Gretchen possibly have a problem with this??

"I sort of made Alicia a promise yesterday," Gretchen admitted. "I promised her I would never vote for her. That was the only reason she gave me immunity."

"What?" Vecepia was flabbergasted.

"Yeah I know," Gretchen shrugged, sheepishly. "I didn't really think that one through all the way, did I?"

Vecepia's mind reeled. She hadn't even considered that Gretchen and Alicia might have a final two pact. How the heck was she supposed to get around that?

"I have no problem voting for John though..." smiled Gretchen.

But Vee cut her off. No way. Vecepia wouldn't even consider this. A final three against Gretchen and Alicia? Yeah, right. Like that could possibly end well for her.

"Oh, come on, Vee," Gretchen needled her, "Let's do the girl thing. An all-girl final three. It will be easy."

Vecepia ignored this. There would be no all-female final three. No way. Not if she had anything to say about it.

"So you would never vote for Alicia?" Vee finally asked, curiously. "Never ever?"

Gretchen just shrugged.

After all, "never" was an awfully open-ended term.

It's not like the two of them were especially good friends or anything.

"Well I am telling you right now that I am voting for Alicia tonight," Vee said, still trying to gamble a little bit. "If she doesn't win immunity, she's getting my vote. No matter what."

"You can promise me that?" Gretchen asked. "Even if I don't win immunity? You're still voting for her?"

Vee thought about it for a second.

She weighed the pros and cons in her head.

She decided if she really wanted to do this or not.

And then, out of frustration, she pretty much knew that she had to.

Sometimes, desperation can lead to the strangest of bedfellows.

"Yes," Vee confirmed. "I'm voting for Alicia. Even if you're vulnerable."




^^




The sun was setting in the western sky as the four Manakais gathered for their hike to tonight's all-important immunity challenge.

They all knew that this had the potential to be a very stressful evening tonight.

After all, if Gretchen did win immunity, they would have very little time if they wanted to talk about it. They were probably voting right afterwards.

John Carroll, in particular, was a little bit worried about that.

And so they hiked. The four Manakais. Led by Vecepia in the front, and Gretchen in the rear. They carried all their personal belongings with them. They hiked through the twilight, and through the Hawaiian jungle, for more than an hour until they came to challenge beach.

And there was their host. Jeff Probst. Standing on the sand.

All alone, under the darkening sky

He was eagerly awaiting them.

"Welcome back," smiled Jeff, as the final four All-Stars gathered in a semi-circle around him. "And welcome to tonight's big immunity challenge." He laughed. "I bet you were probably expecting Fallen Comrades tonight, weren't you?"

"Yeah," smiled Vee, weakly, "Sorta."

"Well we thought we'd throw you a bit of a curveball."

Jeff retrieved the immunity lei from Gretchen, and went on to explain the rules. It turned out this was going to be an exceptionally simple challenge tonight.

"The four of you will be competing in a race," Jeff explained. "A night race. And it will be through the forest."

He pointed to the thick wall of trees and fauna behind him.

"You will each start from a different point on Ni'ihau," Jeff continued, "You'll be armed with a map, and a flashlight, and that's about it. And it will be your job to race through the forest, and get to Tribal Council, as fast as you can." He nodded, simply. "The first player to get there wins immunity, as well as a very important spot in the final three. Because a win tonight means that you aren't going anywhere."

John raised his hand to ask a question, but Jeff had already anticipated this.

"Yes, all the starting points are exactly the same distance from Tribal Council," he explained, "They are all one and a half miles away, just in different directions."

"Okay, cool," John nodded.

"So if you guys are ready to begin..." Jeff smiled, "Let's get you hooked up to the night-vision cameras, and we'll get this thing going."




^^




The four players were flown out to their starting locations, via helicopter, one after another. They had drawn straws randomly for starting location, and 30 minutes later, each player was standing in his or her assigned starting position.

Vecepia was to the north. John was to the east. Alicia was to the south. And Gretchen was to the west.

All four of them wore helmet cams, held flashlights and maps, and had a walkie-talkie around their neck.

All four Manakais were ready.

Jeff radioed them via walkie-talkie from his spot at Tribal Council, where he was sitting with the jury.

"Survivors, you ready?"

Everyone answered back that they could hear him fine. They were all ready to go.

Muscles were tensed, legs were stretched, flashlights were on. The tension was in the air.

They all waited for that one magic word.

And then they got it.

"Go!"

All four players took off running into the jungle, in a mad scramble towards the Tribal Council set. They could see its welcoming lights beckoning them from a mile a half away. In the dead of night, they looked so near, yet so far.

But at the same time, the players were also learning to respect the density of this forest. The trees were incredibly thick around this area. This was not an easy run.

Jeff Probst stood in the middle of the Tribal Council set, with the jury seated next to him, on his right.

He watched as four flashlights bobbed through the jungle towards him, one from each direction. Even from this far away, because of the nighttime sky, you could tell where they were.

One of the flashlight beams-- the one to the west-- appeared to be closest.

Jeff announced this to everyone, via walkie-talkie.

"Gretchen is in the lead."




^^




Gretchen Cordy had been making good progress thus far in the forest, as she scrambled through the trees like a cat, desperate to be safe at tonight's vote. She ducked under limbs. She leapt over fallen branches. And every so often-- as little as possible-- she paused every now and then to glance at her map. She knew she was headed in the right direction. All you had to do was take one look at those Tribal Council lights, and you knew this was right.

She hoped she wouldn't hit any major blockage ahead. Because if this race really were a straight shot from here on out, then she had it in the bag.

Over to the south, Alicia was lost. She hadn't meant to get lost, she had thought she had been following the map all along. But the minute she hit a wall of fallen trees, she knew she was in trouble. That meant she would have to backtrack where she had been, and start over. And with Gretchen already in the lead, that wasn't a very good sign right now.

From his trail to the east, John could see Alicia's flashlight to the south as it bobbed backwards back towards the starting line. And he had to laugh. Alicia. That had to be Alicia. The girl had no forest sense. Never had, never would. He sort of hoped she got lost and starved to death out there.

With Alicia effectively out of the contest, that meant it was now a three person race between John, Vecepia, and Gretchen. They had all been running through the jungle for about 15 minutes now. They were getting closer and closer to having a winner.

The flashlights were bobbing closer and closer to the waiting participants at Tribal Council.

Vee, John, and Gretchen were now racing through the forest as fast as they could.

This would be all over soon.




^^




And finally, it happened. It practically happened all at once.

John broke through a thicket, and he saw a clear path to Tribal Council. It was about 400 feet away. He dropped his map, and his flashlight, and he broke into a dead run towards the torches at the end.

Jeff saw John's flashlight hit the ground and he knew it was just about over. Because here came John Carroll. Through the darkness. Jeff could see his shadow, way off in the distance of the eastern trail. He was just about here.

And then, Jeff heard a noise from behind him.

He turned around. And there was Gretchen's flashlight. On the trail to the west. It was possible she was actually still in the lead.

"John and Gretchen are almost here!" Jeff announced in the walkie-talkie, excitedly. "One of them is about to win immunity. But which one wants it the most?"

Jeff turned to the east. He watched John, running.

Then he whirled to the west. There was Gretchen. Unlike John, she was still carrying her flashlight.

"We'll have a winner any second now..." Jeff announced in the walkie-talkie to everyone.

John was running for all he was worth, like a jackrabbit. And so was Gretchen. Arms pumping, and legs pounding, they ran over the trail from opposite directions as fast as they could.

And then the winner revealed herself.

Gretchen Cordy came crashing through the Ni'ihau forest, screaming wildly at the top of her lungs. And then, with one quick hop over a fallen log, she was here. She emerged from the western trail a good fifteen seconds before John. Her brown hair in her face, and sweat drenching her from top to bottom, Gretchen Cordy had just found herself in the final three in All-Star Survivor.

See, she had warned them to plan for this. And now they were screwed.

"Gretchen!" announced Jeff, into the walkie-talkie, "wins immunity! Gretchen's going to the final three!"

Gretchen threw herself at Jeff. She hugged him and wrapped herself around him.

She was ecstatic.

John, meanwhile, who was just as out of breath as she was, and just as sweaty, was-- on the contrary-- now a little bit pissed. He just stood there with his hands on his hips. He looked incensed with himself.

Wonderful. How perfect.

Just like he had feared, this was going to get ugly tonight.




^^




Fifteen minutes later, all the participants had arrived. Vecepia was here, and so was Alicia. All four of them were now seated before Jeff for Tribal Council.

It was time to begin.

"So, Gretchen..." smiled Jeff, from across the firepit, "Immunity tonight. A one-in-three shot at a million dollars. How does that feel?"

"It feels awesome, Jeff," grinned Gretchen. "And I knew it was going to happen tonight, too."

"You knew you were going to win immunity?"

Gretchen nodded. She did.

"How did you know that?"

"I knew that I just wanted it the most. I knew that I really needed it tonight."

"Why? Because you knew you were gone if you didn't have it?"

Gretchen nodded. Yep.

"So is that true?" Jeff turned to the other three Manakais. "Was Gretchen really gone tonight without immunity?"

Vecepia wasted no time in piping up on this subject. After all, her gamble earlier today had been preparing for this exact outcome, and now it looked like it was here. The Good Lord had smiled upon her efforts today. Her plan was about to pay off.

"I wasn't going to vote for Gretchen," she said, "I already told her that too. I told her before the challenge."

"Who were you going to vote for?"

"Alicia."

Alicia's head whipped around towards her, in surprise.

"Is that true?" Jeff turned and asked Gretchen. "Vee wasn't going to vote for you tonight?"

"Well, so she says," Gretchen shrugged.

"But she did say it?"

"Yeah, we had a chat about this right before dinner."

"And what was discussed?"

Gretchen sighed. She really didn't want to have to recap this. At least, not now. Not sitting here, right next to Alicia. She knew this was bound to be awkward.

"Vee asked if I would vote against Alicia tonight," she explained, reluctantly, "She said she was going to do it, no matter what, and she wanted me to help her."

"Even if you weren't immune?"

"Yeah, even if I wasn't immune. She said she was voting for Alicia anyway."

Jeff just stood there and let the comment hang in the air. He said nothing. He was curious as to what John and, particularly, Alicia were going to say about this.

Neither one of them said anything.

So Jeff continued on his questioning with Gretchen.

"So what did you tell Vee in response?" he asked. "Did you say that you were voting for Alicia as well?"

"No, I said that I couldn't."

"Why not?"

"Because I made a deal with Alicia yesterday that I wouldn't."

Ah. And there was the kicker. The secret blackmail deal that Alicia had made with Gretchen at the end of the challenge yesterday. The one that, prior to this very moment, no one sitting here had known about. Well, except for maybe Vecepia. Several players in the jury audibly gasped.

Jeff was intrigued.

"Alicia," asked Jeff, "You made a deal with Gretchen yesterday?"

"Yes I did," Alicia was smiling.

"And what was this deal?"

"That she would take me to the final two, and would never vote me out."

"Ever?"

"Ever."

"In exchange for what?"

"In exchange for me quitting the challenge, and giving her immunity."

And there it was. In plain spoken English. Alicia had blackmailed Gretchen just like she had blackmailed John. She had done it to both of them.

And that was just the type of opening that John had been waiting for.

He immediately piped up.

"Gretchen," he asked, "Did she say that you better not vote her out, or else she'd kill you on the jury? Did she basically threaten you?"

"Well not in so many words..."

"But that was the insinuation. Right?"

"Pretty much."

"Well she did that to me too. I have the exact same deal with her."

Alicia's face tightened. Sitting next to Gretchen in the back row, she felt her face start to flush. Uh oh. What were the two of them discussing here?

"So what are you saying?" Jeff asked John, curiously. "You're saying that Alicia has a final two deal with both of you?"

"No, what I'm saying is..." John started.

But he didn't need to finish. Gretchen could have finished that sentence for him. They were already on the same wavelength here.

"... he's saying," smiled Gretchen, "That she can't kill both of us in the final jury. If it's me against John, she has to pick one of us."

"Hang on," Alicia said, "Hang on." She looked angry. "I had a deal with you guys. I saved both of you." She glared at John. "John, you shouldn't even be here right now."

"Sorry," shrugged John. "I'm not voting for Vee tonight." Then he had to add... he couldn't resist... "tough shit."

"Gretchen," Alicia tried to desperately change her tactic. She sensed danger here. "Wait a minute. What about us? We were Kekos." She stared, imploringly, at her fellow Keko teammate. "You mean to tell me you're going to let a former winner get to the final three? You're going to give Vecepia a chance to win this game?"

"Vecepia has never screwed me over," Gretchen explained, simply.

"Yeah but she doesn't deserve to win this game! We've talked about this!" Alicia looked like she was nearing tears. "We had a deal! You promised me!" Alicia looked over at the jury now, imploringly. She looked Kathy in the eyes. She wanted her to know about this.

There was silence in the air. Gretchen said nothing.

"Gretchen, did you promise that you'd never vote for her?" Jeff asked, quietly.

"Of course."

She let the comment hang in the air.

And then-- most satisfyingly-- she delivered the knockout punch.

"... but I also promised Kathy we'd all stay together."

"What does that mean?" asked Jeff.

"It means that maybe that's why I've never been that good a player, Jeff," Gretchen shrugged, "It's because I don't keep my promises."

^^

One by one, the Manakais went up to the podium to cast their ballots. And one by one, they came back to their seats.

Alicia, in the far back row of the player box, looked like she was ready to murder someone.

"The player voted out tonight," said Jeff, "Will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately."

They all knew who that was going to be.

And sure enough, three votes later, Alicia Calaway was cooked.

Her vote for Vecepia-- a desperation vote, all the way-- turned out to be meaningless.

"Alicia," said Jeff, "That's three votes. That's enough. Please bring me your torch."

Alicia said nothing. She just sat there, glaring daggers. She said nothing. She wanted to scream.

Then she finally stood up.

She took one glance at Gretchen.

Then one glance at John.

Then she reached for her torch.

She had only one thing she wanted to say.

"If Vecepia gets to the end," she said, quietly yet defiantly, "She's getting my vote."

And that was it. There was nothing else she wanted to say to these people. She just brought up her torch and she placed it in front of Jeff Probst. Then she lowered her head and stared at the ground. She waited for the words.

"Alicia, the tribe has spoken."

And just like that, the mood of the Manakai jury had just gotten a little bit feistier.

Alicia picked up her backpack, she turned towards the forest, and she left the game. Angry, yet proud. Silent, yet infuriated. She knew her revenge would come later. Against who, she didn't care. You just wait and see. It always did.

All-Star Survivor was now down to three.

- Read Alicia Calaway's final words

DAY 38





Forty-eight hours to go.

Vecepia, Gretchen, and John.

Jeff Probst came to wake them up at 4:00 A.M.

"Are you kidding me?" groaned Gretchen, wearily. "Go back to your hotel. Leave us alone. We're sleeping."

But Jeff was not to be deterred. He wasn't going anywhere. It was time to wake up. After all, they had a lot of excitement planned for today.

Once the three of them were awake-- or half awake, in John's case-- he explained this to them.

"At dawn," Jeff explained, "The three of you will be going on a hike. A spiritual hike, across nearly half of the island. And you'll be headed to a very special place."

He pulled out a tattered brown piece of map, and showed them where they were going to be walking today.

"Once you're there," he continued, "The three of you will be taking part in an authentic Hawaiian warrior ritual, such as the ancient warriors would have used before they went into battle." He smiled. "And I encourage you to cherish this. I want you to let your hair down and really get into the part. I want you to feel like you are actual warriors. Because... in a sense... that's what you are going to be."

He reached over and plucked the immunity lei off of Gretchen's neck.

"After the ceremony, the three of you will be competing for this necklace. One last time. And I don't think I need to tell anybody how important that is going to be."

He nodded.

"Win immunity today, win the last immunity, and you'll be competing in the final jury against the opponent of your choice for a million dollars."

He smiled.

Obviously, this was more than enough reason to wake up early today.




^^




Jeff left camp about ten minutes later.

It was now up to the three finalists to pack up their gear, throw down a meal, and head out on their hike. After all, the sun was going to be up in about half an hour. They had to get ready. It was clear that this was going to be a grueling, and emotional, day today. They wanted to be prepared for this.

John threw together a quick morning meal of filet mignon strip steak-- which was really just rice and fish, like always-- and the three finalists sat around one of the last Manakai campfires, ate breakfast, and just talked about life. And it felt nice.

After thirty-seven days, it felt like most of the stress of this game had disappeared.

Things were different this morning. Things had changed. It was obvious. The three remaining players finally felt like comrades-in-arms.

After more than a month of being bitter rivals, with Alicia now gone, the three of them finally felt like they were actually a family out here.

And why wouldn't they feel that way? After all, there were no more negotiations in this game. There was no more lying. There was no more drama. For the first time, perhaps all game, everyone knew where they stood in this tribe. Once you got down to the final three in Survivor, the game was basically on auto pilot. Either John and Vecepia were going to win, or Gretchen was going to win. It would all come down to immunity. After thirty-seven days, the ending of this game was not going to come down to strategy, it was going to be decided by an immunity challenge. There was nothing else any one of the three of them could do. It was as easy as that.

So rather than hash over last-minute strategy, or stress about what was coming today, the three of them just sat around and talked about last night's vote.

It had been an exciting one.

"Did you see the look on Alicia's face when she left?" Vee grinned, as she sucked down a small piece of coconut that John had placed in her bowl. "She was Pissed. Off. I thought she was going to kill someone."

"Hey, she still could kill somebody," Gretchen shrugged. "I mean, at least one of us will have to face her in the final jury. There still could be some actual bloodshed involved."

"Well all I know," John joked, "is that I'm bringing the machete if I'm in the final two. I don't want her getting in a free shot at me. I want to be able to retaliate."

Gretchen suddenly turned and looked around.

"Hey, where's that slingshot?" she asked John. "That one that you made to hunt birds. Do you still have it? I want it."

"That piece of crap?" John laughed. "No. It wouldn't fire straight. I tossed it."

"Aw, man." Gretchen looked crushed. "I wanted a weapon too. Now I'm defenseless."

"But it didn't even work," said Vecepia.

"It did at first," joked John. "But I think Rob ruined it one night be beating off to it. He was getting kind of lonely by the end. He said it looked like his girlfriend."

Off to the left, Vecepia cracked up. She put her hand over her mouth and started guffawing.

Gretchen smiled. Well it was good to see that a good Boston Rob joke never went out of style around here.

And that's when John decided to abruptly change the subject.

After all, strategy blackout or not, there was something that had been bothering him for a couple of hours now.

"Hey Gretchen," he said, as he waited for the laughter to end, "I have a question for you, if you don't mind."

"Sure," she said, between mouthfuls of rice, "Shoot."

Vecepia quickly sobered up. She put down her rice bowl. This sounded like it was going to be interesting.

"Why did you vote for Alicia last night?" John asked, curiously.

Gretchen looked surprised. "Why?"

"Yeah," nodded John. "Because, you know, you could have forced a tie with her if you wanted to. It could have easily been two votes for Alicia, and two votes for Vee. Why didn't you do that?"

Vee looked on in silent anticipation. After all, she was sort of curious to hear the answer to this question as well. Why hadn't Gretchen decided to make them draw rocks last night? She could have easily messed it up for everyone and thrown a wrench into their plans. Lord knows she had wanted to. So what had been her thinking there? Why vote for Alicia?

"The way I looked at it," Gretchen explained, softly, "was that I was pretty much on my own at that point. Nobody wanted me in the final two. None of you would have taken me to the end. Not you, not Alicia, not Vee, not anybody." She paused. "So no matter who I was up against in the final three, it didn't matter. I knew I was pretty much in the exact same position, no matter what."

Both John and Vecepia nodded. Because Gretchen was correct. Her goose would have cooked against just about anybody. Alicia hadn't wanted her here anymore than they did.

"So that's what it came down to," Gretchen shrugged. "It was like, do I really care who I'm up against in the final three? Or do I just want to get it over with?"

"And Alicia gave you the perfect opportunity, didn't she?" asked Vee.

"Yeah," smiled Gretchen. "Well, actually, John did. Because he was the one who pointed it out to me. Alicia shouldn't have made the exact same deal with both of us. She kind of shot herself in the foot there."

"And when you found out that John and I were both voting for Alicia...?" Vee smiled.

"Yeah," nodded Gretchen. "When I heard that, I figured, what the heck? No use prolonging the inevitable. Let's just make it easy for everyone and get this over with." She smiled. "I just wanted to get back here and get some sleep."

Gretchen let the comment hang out there in the air.

Although Vecepia knew there was a little bit of an implication that hadn't been stated yet.

"So does that mean that if you win immunity today," she asked Gretchen, slowly, "you're taking John to the finals?"

Gretchen looked surprised. "Why would it mean that?"

"Well I just figured," Vee stammered, "I mean you and he have this thing with Alicia now. You'd obviously rather face him at the end over me. Because then she has to pick one of you."

Gretchen said nothing. She just shrugged.

"I guess I'll just worry about that when I get there," she said.

Vecepia looked at John. She looked concerned. Was there some sort of a conspiracy here she should be worried about? Were he and Gretchen locked into a final two necessity pact at this point? Was John really still planning on taking Vecepia to the end? Had something changed?

John saw the look in her eyes, and he just shrugged it off. He shook his head. Nah, don't worry about it. Doesn't mean anything.

You're still my girl here.

"All I know," Gretchen added, "... is that I need to win immunity today. Or I'm dead. Same thing it would have been if I had been here with Alicia." She paused, looking down at the sand. "I'm not gonna delude myself. I know where I stand."

"Well if nothing else," Vee asked, in a somewhat shaky voice, "At least you can say you got rid of Alicia. You pretty much did it yourself. That was all you."

"Yep," muttered Gretchen, in a voice a little more somber than usual, "That was all me. Screw her."

Hmm. She had thought she would have felt a little more triumphant today. After all, Vee was right. She had taken her Survivor enemy last night, and she had ground her unceremoniously under her boot. Vee was right, that had all been her. And it had felt great at the time. What's not to feel triumphant about that?

Yet here it was the next morning, and Gretchen wasn't feeling particularly triumphant. Not at all. In fact, truth be told, she was actually feeling a little bit lonely. And she couldn't figure out why. For some reason, she was actually missing the presence of Alicia this morning.

How very odd. This was strange.

"Here, here," said John, as he raised his voice, trying to break the obvious melancholy. He lifted his coconut bowl high in tribute. "Three cheers for Gretchen. For screwing Alicia. Screw her. All hail the champion! Hip, hip, hooray!"

Vecepia picked up her bowl and raised it high, as well.

Gretchen just looked up, in response, and smiled weakly.

She would love to be celebrating. She would love it. But she also knew she had a lot of work ahead of her today. After all, today's immunity challenge was for all the marbles. It was the big one. Today, with all the chips on the table, she would have to beat both of them.

Their conversation continued on for a couple of minutes, and then it was finally done.

The food was gone.

The bowls were empty.

And that meant it was business time.

After twenty minutes of breakfast, and twenty minutes of banter, and about eighteen minutes of "Boston Rob and/or Alicia suck" comments, it was time for the final three Manakais to pack up. Breakfast was done. The frivolities were over. They were a family no more. It was time to get going.

It was time for John, Vecepia, and Gretchen to get their game faces on.

After all, a day of memories-- and grueling competition-- now lay directly in front of them.




^^




It was just after daybreak when the weary but spirited Manakais hoisted their backpacks, consulted their map, and headed off into the Hawaiian wilderness. It was time to begin the all-important Survivor memorial walk. It was time to remember their fallen competitors.

The three of them began their miles-long trek over tall grasses, sandy beaches, uneven lava rock, and under tangerine skies. Scrappy, never-say-die Gretchen... stoic, controlled Vecepia... and shrewd, born-to-be-a-strategist John.

The final three.

They were about twenty minutes into their hike, and had just crested a hill on the east side of the island, when Vecepia spotted the first torch that had once belonged to one of their peers. It was Teresa's. Teresa "T-Bird" Cooper, who had been the first fallen Keko, more than thirty days ago. That seemed so far in the past. It was almost a Survivor lifetime ago.

T-Bird's torch stared at them through the golden rays of the Hawaiian sun.

Gretchen walked up to it and she put her hand around it.

"Can you imagine?" she asked the others, "Busting your butt to get here, doing everything in your power to help your tribe, and then being voted off first? Just because you were injured?" She looked saddened. "She must have felt terrible."

"How bad was she?" asked Vecepia, curiously. "I mean how bad was her knee? I never got to meet her."

"None of us did," said John.

"She could barely walk," explained Gretchen. "We had to vote her out. We didn't want to, but we had to. It wasn't fun, but it wasn't debatable."

John and Vee just looked at her, somberly.

Gretchen looked over at Teresa's torch one last time, then she leaned over and she gave it a kiss.

"Bye T-Bird," she said, sadly, "You deserved better." She paused. "I hope you get a third chance one day. You were one of the good ones."

^^




The three Manakais trekked past Ethan's torch about ten minutes later. It rested on top of a rock, and was surrounded by puka shells.

Ethan, who had been negated by the Kekos so early, and who had valiantly put up one hell of a fight.

"Ethan never had a chance," Gretchen explained to her walking companions, "The powers that be wanted him gone from day one. They totally railroaded him." She put a motherly arm around his staff, as if protecting him from danger.

"I thought you guys were nuts to get rid of Ethan," John said. "He was one of your best athletes. We all thought you were crazy."

Vee nodded, in agreement.

"We probably were crazy," Gretchen sighed, "We could have used him. In fact, he's probably the reason the two of you are standing here right now."

Gretchen sighed again, as she finally realized the mistake she had made back on day six. She had perhaps cost the Kekos the entire game that day. And all because of one vote.

"It shouldn't have been Ethan," she murmured. "I should have voted for Richard. I just didn't see it."

With an affectionate kiss, she placed Ethan's torch back down on the rock.

Rest in peace, young soccer player.

You didn't deserve this.

Rest in peace.

^^

The Manakais walked on for about ten more minutes before Gretchen saw a familiar cove appear on the horizon. Why, she hadn't even realized which direction they had been walking out here. Up until now, she'd had no idea where this trek had been headed.

But she certainly knew now. They were headed west.

Because here came a very familiar campsite.

There was a pair of Mike's old pants laying on the sand.

She had come back to Keko.

"Hey guys," she smiled, warmly, "This was our original camp. This is Keko."

"Really?" asked Vee, curiously. "Why are we here?"

"I'm guessing we're probably walking through Ahi later," Gretchen deduced. "Take a look!"

She bounded over and picked up an old walking stick that Kathy had once been carving into a fishing spear. It was only about 75% done. She had never had a chance to finish it.

"This was Kathy's," she beamed.

Gretchen happily pointed out treasured places and memories from her first eighteen days on Ni'ihau. She chattered excitedly all over the place. And why wouldn't she? After all, as the only Keko left, she was basically a tour guide. She was the last of her kind. It was clear that she was intensely proud of this place.

Vecepia just shook her head, in astonishment, and admired the cleanliness.

Camp Ahi, for all its successes, had always looked more like a homeless shelter. It had always looked like a pig sty. In fact, the difference between the two original camp sites was a little bit stunning.

Everything in Keko had been in order. Everything in Keko had had a place. Everything in Keko had been put away where it went.

How had the Kekos actually lost this game?

Compared to Ahi, this place looked like Club Med!

"We used to wonder how you guys had it over here," Vee joked, in astonishment. "I guess it was best we never saw this. We wouldn't even have shown up to the challenges!"

"Is that a knife rack?" John asked, flabbergasted. He looked over at Gretchen. "You built a fucking knife rack?"

Gretchen just grinned, sheepishly.

"Man," joked John, "You guys suck. I hate you. Over at Ahi, they barely gave me a cooking pot."

^^




Ironically, the first torch they spotted at Keko was Sue Hawk's. The Ahi fallen alpha female. For some reason, Sue's torch was located on the beach near Camp Keko. It pointed straight up, out of the sand.

John walked up to the torch and put his hands on his hips.

He just stared at it. He said nothing.

"The Ahi traitor," he murmured, softly. Then he looked back at the other two. "Man, that was an odd time. Remember that, Vee? Lex hated her."

"Lex wanted to kill her," Vee confirmed.

"Why?" asked Gretchen, curious.

"They were just two powerful people," John shrugged, "Couldn't get along. Couldn't live together. One of them pretty much had to go."

"And Sue lost the showdown," Vee added, quietly.

The three of them stood there in silence, and added a moment of quiet respect.

Two of them, for the woman who very easily could have taken over Ahi, and one of them, for a competitor she remembered from way back in Borneo.

Sue Hawk. The hunter.

Who had been defeated by a more powerful male for the second time in her life.

God, how she must have hated that.

^^

The fourth torch the players came to, of course, was Richard's.

Richard Hatch's.

It had been a long time since any of the Manakais had actually thought about him.

"Rich-ard!" Vee called, happily, as she saw the fallen torch of her fellow winner. "My man. Wish I could have actually played with him."

Gretchen just laughed.

"Yeah," she grinned, her mind flooding with warm memories of the big guy. "Richard was a character, all right. Good or bad, it wouldn't have been All-Stars without him."

In particular, she was thinking back to an incident from the very first day of the game. Richard and Gretchen had been searching for shellfish, down by the cove, and Richard had politely asked if she minded if he spent the rest of the day naked.

"Nah, not at all," had been her surprised response.

And then down it came. Shorts, underwear, bait and tackle, shoes, everything. He was completely nude. In two seconds, she was staring at the littlest Keko.

Gretchen grinned.

No matter how much she had been warned, you were never quite prepared for that.

"Do you know he tried to get me to walk around naked too?" Gretchen confessed to her walking mates, while laughing. "He said it would be a good strategy if I joined him and we walked around without clothes all day." She laughed out loud. "He said it would confuse everybody."

"Well naked or not," John shrugged, "I was just looking forward to kicking his ass. I think we all were."

Vecepia agreed. Even as a former winner, she had been looking forward to dethroning Richard. That's how much of a prestige player he had always been to them.

In fact-- truth be told-- she was still a little jealous that only the Kekos had been able to be a part of that.

"What was it like?" Vee asked, softly, as she searched for some sort of closure on this issue.

"What was what like?" asked Gretchen.

"Voting him out."

"Did he cry?" asked John.

Gretchen just laughed.

"We already talked about this," she grinned. "The night of the merge, remember? You guys already asked me about this."

"Yeah but I want to hear it again," Vee said, "I'm curious."

"Just tell us the fat bastard cried," John implored, "Just humor us this time. It's what we've been waiting for."

Again, Gretchen just laughed.

"No," she said, her eyes watery with laughing tears. "I'm sorry, but he didn't cry at all, John. He might have, but I think he knew it was coming. So he just had a good time with it."

She smiled, reminiscing back to one of the best moments of her entire life. Man that had been a fun one. Colby and Kathy had been so excited, they had been bouncing off the walls for the rest of the night. That Richard vote had been a highlight for all of them.

"Richard was a good friend, you guys," Gretchen said, as she somberly lay his torch softly back down in the sand. "He never had a chance, but it was an honor to play with him. He did the best with the hand he was dealt."

She turned around and nodded her head at them. Because this was important. She wanted them to understand this about the man.

"Richard's cocky, but he's also a really good guy. I hope you both get a chance to actually hang out with him."





^^

The encroaching sun trickled sweat down their tiring bodies as Lex's torch beckoned them about three hundred feet up the beach. And pretty soon, there it was. Right on the outskirts of Camp Keko.

The torch of the most dominant of the original Ahis.

"Lex is a good player," said Vee, wistfully, as she put her hand around his torch. "He probably deserves to be here. At the start of the game, I knew he would be one of the favorites out here."

"I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for him," John agreed. He turned and looked at Gretchen. "Lex put together the original alliance. He brought us all together at the start of the game. If it wasn't for him, you'd be standing here with Boston Rob and Sue."

Gretchen grimaced. Yikes. Now that would have been an interesting ending.

"You either like Lex, or you hate him," John shrugged. "But I always liked him. I think he represents what Survivor is supposed to stand for."

He paused.

"The man is absolutely fearless. He plays balls to the wall. It was an honor to play against him."





^^





And with that, the three players said their final farewell to Camp Keko. It was time to leave this camp and head over to Ahi. It was time to see how the other side had lived for the first eighteen days.

Their final torch walk was now two hours old, and about halfway complete.

And sure enough, there was the next torch. About half a mile up the beach.

The torches were coming a little bit faster now.

This one was identifiable by the fact that it had a cowboy hat.

"Ah, our good friend Colby," smiled Gretchen, as she warmly walked up to it and put her hand on the torch. "Our cowboy. We all loved him."

"Yeah, I heard that Richard loved him," John joked. "A lot."

Gretchen just laughed.

Ah yes. The old days.

"Was Colby creeped out by that?" John asked, curiously, "Or was he cool with it?"

"I don't think he minded," Gretchen shrugged. "I mean, he'd make jokes about it, but he and Richard got along fine. All the Kekos pretty much got along fine."

Gretchen was surprised to find that her eyes were getting a little bit watery just talking about this. She was surprised to find how much she had been attached to these people. Especially Colby. For her, this had been the most emotional torch so far of them all.

"Well, all I know," said Vecepia, "is that Tina was dying to meet up with him again. It killed her that you guys voted him out right before the merge."

"Yeah," smirked John, "You guys broke her heart. Nice job."

Gretchen just shrugged. It had been down to Colby or Mike that night. They had been between a rock and a hard place. Fate just hadn't smiled on the Kekos this game. What else could they do?

^^

The Manakais were now trekking east towards Camp Ahi. And Gretchen was in the middle of a story about how Colby had been so excited when Richard had been voted out.

And that was when Vecepia spotted the torch that Gretchen knew was finally going to bring her to tears.

Mike Skupin.

Oh Mike. He had been so happy just to make the merge. That grin on his face had said everything. He had been so happy just to be here, just standing happy and alive.

As she knew she would, Gretchen finally broke down and she started crying.

Vecepia walked over and affectionately put an arm around her.

"I didn't think I was going to like Mike at first," John said, in an effort to keep some conversation going. "I thought he was going to be a psychopath. Turns out I was wrong."

"Oh Mike was a psychopath," Gretchen grinned, through tears. "He was. That's why we loved him."

"I don't think you could not like Mike," said Vee. "He's too goofy. He's like a little kid. Even if you hated his guts, I think he would grow on you."

"I couldn't stand him at the start," Gretchen nodded, as she wiped her eyes. "We fought constantly. But eventually I learned to respect him." She let out a strange little half-cry, half-laugh. "I mean, my God, even though he got me up at four o'clock every morning, I still loved him."

The three of them stood there and stared at the torch. They stood there for a long while. It was clear that this was an important one.

Finally, Gretchen had composed herself and she was ready to go.

"Bye, Mike," she nodded once, sadly. "I never told you this, but you were the true leader of the Keko tribe. Your presence meant everything."

^^

Gretchen thought she was done with her Mike memories, but it turned out that she wasn't. Because she was still reminiscing as the hike now stretched into its third hour.

"One time he dropped a fish down the back of my swimsuit," she laughed, as she and Vee were still swapping Mike stories. "I felt this gooey thing go down my back, and I'm like 'Mike!'"

"You knew who did it, even without looking?"

"Yeah, it had to be Mike. He was the only one who would do that." Gretchen laughed. "But you couldn't get mad at him, because he was like one of your kids. He had the maturity of a ten year old."

Vecepia giggled.

And that was when the Manakais finally reached the outskirts of Camp Ahi.

"Hey guys," nodded John, from behind his sunglasses, "We're here. Check it out. Camp Ahi."

Sure enough, John and Vecepia were home.

"Oh man," sighed Vee, once she caught a glimpse of the disarray they had left behind. Clothing and garbage and fruit scraps were everywhere. "Did we live here? It looks like a hurricane went through here."

Even Gretchen was shocked. And she had actually been here before. She had seen this!

"Jeez. How did you guys beat us again?" she asked, smirking. "This place is a pig pen."

And it was here, at the front of the Ahi camp, that they found the torch of the first jury member of the game, Frank Garrison.

It stood all alone. Off by itself. Proud but aloof.

Sort of like Frank.

"Frank was our hunter," John said, simply.

"Frank was our warrior," Vecepia corrected.

Surprisingly, they didn't have that much else to say about him. It was clear to Gretchen after thirty seconds of standing here that neither John nor Vecepia had really spent all that much time with the man. It was like they had barely met the guy.

"The thing I'll remember the most about Frank," Gretchen piped in, "Is when he would talk about his kids. Because that was when his eyes would light up. That was when he would really come out. You could tell that those kids were his world."

Vecepia and John both nodded, wistfully.

Gretchen had phrased that better than either of them possibly could. It was good she was here. It was good she was their narrator.

Gretchen tied one of her shell bracelets around Frank's torch, and then they moved on.

^^

As expected, the torches were coming very quickly now.

It was clear that the hike was rapidly coming to an end.

Right after Frank's torch was Boston Rob's. It stood dead center in the middle of Camp Ahi. Rob's navy blue Red Sox cap perched sideways on top of it.

"Oh man," smiled Vee, when she saw the torch of her Survivor twin. "Boston Rob. My buddy." She grinned. "I've never laughed so hard in my life."

The three of them stood there in front of his torch for several minutes. Nobody said anything. Gretchen wasn't really sure what they were supposed to say.

After all, Boston Rob had inspired mixed feelings in just about everyone.

"Here's what I'll remember about Rob..." John said, quietly.

Gretchen winced.

Uh oh. This was bound to be ugly.

"Rob always inspired me to play harder," John explained. "He always inspired me to beat him. So without him, there's no way I would be standing here." He paused. "Even though he was my enemy, I couldn't have done this without him. I'm glad he was here."

Gretchen looked over at John, and she smiled.

That was nice. And she felt the same way.

Rob was an incredible pain in the ass, but she was glad she had met him. He was... interesting.

Like Richard, love him or hate him, this wouldn't have been All-Stars without him.

"Well I'll say it if no one else will," said Vee, wistfully. She stepped up to his torch. "Rob, you're a heck of a guy. I've never had an ally as good as you, and I probably never will. You were one of my favorites."

She kissed his torch, lightly.

"God bless you, Boston Rob. And please be nice to us in the jury."

She smiled.

"Remember, we're players here just like you were."





^^




The Manakais hiked directly through Camp Ahi. And, perhaps not surprisingly, neither John nor Vecepia seemed to be all that misty-eyed about it. It was clear that the Ahis had been far more hardcore into game mode than the Kekos had ever been. John and Vecepia simply hiked through their original camp like it was a sterile room in a museum.

They didn't share any stories. They didn't share any memories.

There was nothing.

It was like they had never been here before.

Gretchen found it a little unnerving.

At the edge of Camp Ahi, about four and a half hours into the hike, the Manakais ran into the torch of Gretchen's best friend in the game.

They ran into Kathy.

Gretchen walked up to the torch, she put her hand around it, and she said nothing. She simply lowered her head, and appeared to be lost in memories. It was clear that this torch meant something special to her.

"Kathy is one a million," John said. "I loved her in Marquesas, I loved her here. She's an extraordinary person."

"She is," nodded Vee, wistfully. "I love Kathy. Always have. She just never realized that."

Gretchen continued to say nothing. She just stood there with eyes closed, as if lost in prayer. After about five minutes of this, after five minutes of silence, she looked up and smiled. She was ready to go. She had finally made peace with this.

"Great player," John sighed, somewhat ruefully, "Kathy should be standing here with us. She was one of the good ones."

^^

Colleen's torch stood about four hundred feet away from Kathy's, up the beach. It lay face down in the sand.

Gretchen saw this, and she immediately felt horrible.

"I did this," she said, sadly. "I got Colleen voted out. It was all my fault."

She leaned down and she picked up the torch. She brushed it off, sadly. She looked at it, eyes full of tears. She looked incredibly pained about this.

"You didn't get Colleen voted out," Vee explained, reassuringly. "Colleen got Colleen voted out. She could have said no."

"It wasn't your fault, anyway," John piped in. "It was mine. I was the one who got her voted out. Me and my stupid temper."

The two of them walked over and each put an arm around Gretchen's shoulders. Because they could see the pain in her eyes. They knew she felt guilty about this. Colleen had been like a daughter to her.

"Well I appreciate it and all," Gretchen said, "But we all know it was my idea that got her voted out. I was the one that pushed her into it." She paused, and then quietly added, "I don't deserve to win."

"Colleen was a player just like any of us," Vee leaned over and whispered into her ear. "She made choices, Gretchen. It wasn't your fault."

"You deserve to win just as much as either of us," John reassured her.

Gretchen looked over at him and she smiled, gratefully. She appreciated that.

"That's exactly why there's no way we're fucking taking you to the final two," John grinned.

Gretchen laughed.

Okay. Touche. Point made.

She put Colleen's torch back down in the dirt, and she gave it a kiss.

Poor Colleen.

Poor little helpless kitten.

Yet another player who didn't deserve what she got.

^^




There were only two torches left, and they were the big ones.

Tina and Alicia.

And there was the first one. About three hundred feet up the beach.

It was the torch of the iron butterfly herself, Tina Wesson. The woman that no one wanted to face in any sort of final three endurance challenge today. The woman that scared everybody half to death once they got close to the finals.

She was barely five feet tall, yet everyone had been deathly afraid of her.

Gretchen had always found that amusing.

"Miss Tina," smiled John, as he walked up and rested his hand on her torch. "Our heart and soul. The Queen of the Ahis."

"My best friend in the game," smiled Vecepia.

This was the one person that they seemed to be genuinely fond of.

"You know what?" Gretchen said, "Tina and I had our moments where we were sort of at each other's throats. But I always loved her. She had a spirit that you don't see in most people."

"She always wanted to live the life less ordinary," smiled Vee. She looked over at Gretchen. "That was her motto."

Gretchen nodded. Yep, that sounded like Tina.

"Tina was my friend," nodded John, "And sometimes my shoulder to cry on. And I don't think she even knew that."

"She was everyone's shoulder to cry on," nodded Vee.

And then, just like that, Vee reached up and she wiped a tear from her eye.

Wow. Vecepia crying? Gretchen saw this and she nearly fell over.

Vecepia showing emotion?

Over an opponent??

Gretchen had never seen that before.

She was shocked!

^^

The players bid farewell to Tina's torch, and they walked northward. Along the beach. Along the Pacific.

Ten minutes later, they came to the final torch on the walk.

There it stood. Tall and proud. Almost defiantly.

The torch of Alicia.

They walked up and they stopped in front of it.

"Alicia..." said Gretchen, hesitantly.

She added nothing else. She didn't know what she was supposed to say.

So John jumped in.

"... is going to kick our ass in the final jury."

All three of them laughed.

"Man," sighed Gretchen. "I have never met anyone as strong-willed as Alicia." She shook her head. "She was... she was one of a kind. I don't know what to say about her."

"Tough as nails," said John, "And bigger balls than any guy I have ever met in my life. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was scared to death of her."

"I just stayed away from her," said Vee. She shrugged.

"Did you have any interaction with her at all?" Gretchen asked, curiously.

"Yeah. Right around the time of the merge, I went up to her and I started asking her about her life." Vee grinned, bashfully. "But I made a mistake. I accidentally called her 'sister.'"

John just laughed.

"Let me guess," grinned Gretchen. "'I aint your sister.'" She looked over at Vecepia. "Something like that?"

"Yeah, almost word for word."

Gretchen laughed.

"So I just stayed away from her after that," Vee shrugged. "I didn't think it was worth it."

The three of them stood there and they stared at Alicia's torch, thoughtfully.

It was hard to believe this was the end of the line.

One long walk, one last reminder of the angriest juror, and now they were about to do battle.

It was hard to believe it was over.

"I'm sorry it went down the way it did, Alicia," Gretchen said, simply, as she put her hand on the torch. "It's too bad we never got along. We would have been unstoppable."

She paused, and then quickly added... almost as an afterthought.

"Now please be nice to me in the jury. I'm gonna need your vote tomorrow."

She grinned.

Nothing like reminding John and Vee there was a third player here, right before they went into battle...




^^




Gretchen, John, and Vecepia left Alicia's torch with a sad goodbye, but with no regrets. After all, at this point, remorse would only weaken them. It would just make them soft. And this flashback walk had done a good job of reminding that they-- and they alone-- were the best of the best.

The three final All-Stars hadn't made mistakes along the way. They hadn't made blunders. They had only made decisions. And every decision had been worth it, because it had allowed them to avoid joining the unlucky thirteen.

What lay ahead of them? A ceremony. Along with a battle. And then either hope or disappointment.

But most of all, what lay ahead of them was a test.

Would they pass this test? Would they fail it? They didn't know. It was too soon to tell.

All they knew was that they would not even contemplate failure right now. Not now. Not this late in the game. Not after the walk they had just completed. Not after the competitors they had just been reminded of. Because those players had been good. Damn good. Every single one of them.

Gretchen, Vecepia and John had just defeated the best players that Survivor had to offer. In convincing fashion. They had made it to the end.

And that meant that the three of them weren't just simply lucky.

It meant they were the best of the best.

^^

The final battle ritual on Ni'ihau was a simple one.

One of the tenets of early Hawaiian warfare was that after defeating an enemy, you also had to capture his soul. After all, this was the only way you could truly be "superior" to him. By owning his soul, not only had you conquered him in every way, you had also shown him your unyielding respect. Because by doing so, what you were really saying is, "You are a warrior who was truly worth conquering."

So that's what the final three Manakais were about to do.

They had defeated thirteen competitors. It was time to start possessing them.

There was a large metal urn ahead of them on the beach, and inside it were thirteen pieces of parchment. Vecepia walked over, she reached inside, and she pulled one out. She saw it was a voting ballot.

Inside the urn was one vote that had been cast for each of their defeated opponents.

They had all been the fatal votes.

Vecepia picked up a small wooden slab that had been left for them next to the urn. It contained the instructions for this next part of the ritual. She picked it up and she read it out loud.

"Your job today," she read, "is to take these votes and burn them. Use this lighter," she picked up a small hand lighter, "Burn the votes, and then spread the ashes over your faces and bodies in preparation for the upcoming challenge. By doing so, you will be taking a part of each of your opponents with you as you march into battle."

"Cool," smiled John.

"Wow," said Gretchen.

Vecepia took the lighter off the sand, and she lit the corner of the ballot she had picked up, the one for Colby. It immediately caught fire. She dropped it into the metal urn and she stood back.

All three of them stood back. They waited for the ballots to burn.




^^



Ten minutes later, it was done. All the votes been incinerated, and all that was left inside the urn was ash.

It was time for part two. Spread the ashes.

Vecepia reached into the urn, and she pulled out a small handful of still-warm ashes. So did John. So did Gretchen.

Then they started smearing the ashes in dark gray streaks across their faces and bodies.

With the sweat they had worked up on the walk, this was incredibly easy.

Soon, after about five minutes of spreading, they were done. They were all now grayish-black from head to toe. John, Gretchen, and Vecepia. They all looked like warriors.

Their thirteen defeated comrades would now be playing a part in this challenge.

^^

The immunity challenge itself was now all that remained.

Constructed in the water, about four hundred feet up the beach, and about twenty feet out from shore, was the now-infamous "Hands on the Idol" platform. It was the one they had all been anticipating since day one. It was the one they had been dreading.

After all, this was the nastiest Survivor challenge of them all.

A large wooden pole stood out of the ocean, with three platforms jutting from it at sixty-degree angles. Each platform consisted of two steps-- a higher one and a lower one.

And there was Jeff Probst, standing on the beach, smiling at them.

He looked particularly ominous.

This didn't look promising.

"This will be for immunity," Jeff instructed them, simply.. "The final immunity."

He pointed out towards the steps and the pole.

"Each one of you will hold one hand on that pole in the middle," he explained, "At no time are you to let go. Ever. Because if you do, if your hand leaves that pole-- even for a second-- then you are eliminated. You are out of the challenge." He nodded. "Don't lose your balance, don't lose your willpower, don't lose your concentration, even for a nanosecond. Because it will be over."

He smiled at them.

"Our goal today is to see who wants immunity the most. Who wants to win it the most? Because after that long walk, and under this heat, this one is going to be difficult."

He grinned. It was his most sadistic, yet winning, smile.

"Are you guys ready to find out?"

^^

Gretchen took the first platform, on the far left. She rested her right hand casually against the pole, her other hand on her hip. Her right foot was elevated slightly higher than her left one, due to the steps. With the weakness problems she was having in her shoulder, she knew this was going to be difficult.

John took the second platform, the one in the middle. With his sunglasses covering his eyes, and his body darkened by the ash and the sweat, he looked like a statue. His mood was entirely unreadable.

And Vecepia took the far platform, the one on the right. With her eyes closed, and her mind praying, she took long, silent breaths, as she tried to will up the strength for this. Again. After all, unlike John and Gretchen, she had actually been through this before. This one wasn't easy.

There was now nothing but silence off the beach of Ni'ihau.

Tension was in the air.

Everyone was in their own world by this point.

"Survivors ready," smiled Jeff, from back on the beach. "Go."

^^

The three Manakais stood out atop the Pacific Ocean, just a few feet above the blue surface. They did not look at one another. They did not look at the sky. They remained, silent, just standing.

Just staring.

They said nothing.

They knew they were going to be here awhile.

^^

At the one hour mark, Jeff waded out to the platform, and he offered words of encouragement. He asked if anyone wanted to talk about anything.

No one did.

No one was really in the mood to talk. They all had their game faces on.

Jeff promised to come back with refreshments in an hour.





^^

At two hours, Jeff was back, of course.

This time he carried a large pitcher of Coke.

He placed it on the sand.

No one took a look at it.

No one was stupid enough to take a look at it.





^^





At three hours, bad news.

The moment that Gretchen had long been dreading had finally come. She had been trying to put it off for as long as she could, but now it was finally here.

Her injury from the ring hang challenge two days ago was starting to flare up.

Her right shoulder-- the one she was leaning on-- was suddenly killing her.

Grimacing, Gretchen shifted her weight slightly, in an attempt to change the angle of her posture. She wanted to put more weight on her wrist, as opposed to her shoulder.

So she moved slowly, and ever so gingerly, and eventually she did it.

Now her shoulder felt better. For now.

Gretchen looked over now and, for the first time in three hours, she took a look at her opponents. There stood John, with his hand on his hips, and sunglasses covering his eyes. And there stood Vecepia, bent over at the waist. They both looked incredibly stoic. Neither one of them appeared to be in the slightest discomfort.

And now Gretchen was a little bit worried.

"My shoulder's giving out on me," she said to them, honestly.

Vee looked up at her. And, immediately, she recognized that look in Gretchen's eyes. That was panic. Gretchen was clearly not in her happy place at the moment. This was going to be a dangerous time for her.

"Is it the arm injury?" Vee asked.

"I think so."

"From the rings?"

Gretchen grimaced again. Now her entire right arm flared, from top to bottom. "Has to be."

John just looked over at her. He appeared unconcerned. He hadn't said a word in three hours.

Meanwhile, Jeff had placed a slice of pizza and a milkshake about 20 feet away from them, on the sand.

Gretchen closed her eyes. She tried to relax. She lapsed into deep breathing. She didn't want to smell that pizza.

She attempted to meditate. She tried to push away the pain.

She also hoped for a miracle.

Unfortunately, common sense dictated that she wouldn't be lasting much longer now.

^^

Four hours passed.

Gretchen hung in there as long as she could.

But much to her dismay, Vecepia and John hadn't budged one inch in four hours. Vecepia hadn't so much as even groaned in pain. She just stood there, head down, looking down at the water. You couldn't even see her eyes. It was if she were sleeping.

John had reached up to wipe his brow, once, about twenty minutes ago. But that had been it. Ever since then, he had just been standing there with his hand on his hip, like he was waiting for a bus.

Gretchen was the only one in trouble right now, and all three of them knew it.

The Keko buzzards were circling.

^^

At four and a half hours, Vee, who was the only one who was looking down, noticed a small sand shark swim right under the idol.

"Hey, cool, you guys," she said. "A shark. Check it out."

Gretchen didn't look down.

Neither did John.

He just stood there, calmly relaxing, and awaiting the inevitable.





^^

And then, of course, it happened.

Gretchen's right shoulder finally gave out.

She had managed to battle it for four hours and forty-seven minutes, but unfortunately the human body can only take so much pain in one particular spot. It eventually buckles. No matter how much willpower you have, no matter how much adrenaline you have, no matter how much heart you have, your body eventually rebels.

Even if you're Gretchen.

Gretchen moved just slightly. And just like that, it was over.

She moved to the right, and she felt something give way in her shoulder. Just like that. Snap. A tendon cracked against bone.

She cried out in pain and she twisted. She lost her balance. She then dropped awkwardly into the water.

And just like that, the final Keko had been defeated.

The Ahis had won.

^^

Gretchen stood up and she winced in pain. Jeff waded out to see if she was okay. He checked to make sure she hadn't broken something. It looked like she hadn't.

John and Vee looked up and immediately made eye contact.

"Step off?" Vee asked him.

"No way," John grinned. "You step off. Let me win this one. You owe me for last night."

Vee looked at him for a second. She looked to see if there were any mistrust in his eyes.

She looked...

... and there wasn't.

His offer was completely legit.

And why wouldn't it be legit? Why would she doubt him? Why had she ever doubted him? She had been with John Carroll for almost the entire length of this game. They had been final two partners since about day nine. This ending-- and the ending of their story-- had been practically inevitable.

She had been with John before.

And now it was time to go to the end with him.

Vecepia stepped off of her platform and plunged into the warmth of the ocean.

^^

"John!" announced Jeff, from about five feet away in the water, "Wins immunity! John is going to the finals!"

John Carroll, who had never won a bigger challenge in his life, just stood there and grinned from ear to ear, from behind his sunglasses. He couldn't believe it. The ultimate fanboy. In the ultimate Survivor scenario.

The final two. Those words. Unbelievable.

Jeff Probst had just made his entire life.

John screamed triumphantly, and he did a half backflip into the water. He was greeted there by his fellow conspirator, Vecepia. The two Ahis hugged and whispered to one another, excitedly.

They had done it. They had finally done it. They had actually knocked off the "unbeatable" Gretchen.

No one had ever thought it was possible. Including-- most of all-- them.

"Hey, nice job," said Gretchen, as she waded over and gave the two of them a hug.

She gave Vee a congratulatory hug.

She gave John a congratulatory hug.

Meanwhile, she winced and favored her injured right arm the entire time.

She was amazed she had lasted that long.

"You okay?" Vee asked her, concerned. "I heard it snap. Did you break it?"

"Nah," Gretchen shook her head. "I didn't break it. I don't know what happened, but I can move it."

"I'll take a look at it when we get back to camp," nodded John, the only nurse here. Like Vee, he looked concerned. "You probably just hyperextended something."

"Thanks," Gretchen said, gratefully.

At the very least, she was happy they were all going out on good terms.

Even though she was well aware that, in a perfect world, she would have kicked their asses today.

Heck, no use being humble at this point. Gretchen was mad. She wouldn't deny it. Her injured shoulder had just cost her a million dollars. It had just handed John immunity. That had been a fluke win. And all three of them knew it.

Gretchen's shoulder had probably just won this game for John Carroll.

Alicia and those damned rings had probably just won this game for John Carroll.

No wonder the guy was looking so damn happy right now.





^^

The Manakais only had about an hour back at camp before they had to leave for Tribal Council. After all, a six hour hike and a five hour challenge can considerably clog up your day.

And one hour back at camp meant that there wasn't a lot of room for negotiations.

Not like Gretchen thought she had all that much to negotiate about.

"Vecepia is not a sure thing in the final two," she said, quietly, as John was taking a look at her shoulder back at Manakai. "She's got friends on that jury. You might want to think about that."

"Well yeah, but so do you."

John popped her arm slightly to the left. Something clicked. Ouch. She grimaced in pain.

"If I don't take Vee to the end," John added, quietly, "Then everything I have done in this game has been in vain. Because I would have screwed everyone. And I mean everyone." He looked up at Gretchen. "If you get to the end, then it means I would have fucked over everybody."

Again, one more click on her shoulder. She yelped out in pain.

"Ouch. What are you, a butcher?" she asked, laughing while crying.

"Eh. Nurse. Butcher. Same thing."

And that was it. That was all the negotiating time they had. Because here came Vecepia, back from the beach. She carried her coconut dinner bowl in her hand. It looked like she had been washing it out.

As she approached camp, she eyed John and Gretchen, warily.

It was obvious they had been talking about something.

"What?" she asked, suspicious.

"Oh, Gretchen was just trying to get me to take her to the final two," admitted John.

Gretchen just shrugged once. She blushed, guiltily.

Sorry. No offense.

"Oh, I don't care," Vee said, as she nonchalantly sat down on a log. "Do what you guys gotta do. It's John's choice. I leave it all up to him."

She didn't appear to be worried in the slightest.

After all, she knew she had no reason to be.

John take Gretchen to the finals? Gretchen?? Over a former winner?

Good luck!

"I'm not gonna take you to the end," John looked up and said to Gretchen. "I can't. You know that. You've always known that. It would be suicide."

"Yeah, but it might be suicide against her too."

"Well if it is," John smiled, "Then at least I can say I chose it. At least I can say I went out on my own terms."

"Alicia's going to murder you..." Gretchen reminded him. "Don't forget that."

"Hey, who's the one popping whose arm back into place?" John laughed. "I mean, let's be real. I don't think this is the best place for someone to really be making demands here."

"Yeah but against me, you would probably get Alicia's vote."

Off to the side, Vee just smiled quietly, and shook her head. Man, Gretchen didn't go out without a fight, did she? Vee said nothing, but she was sincerely impressed. It seemed like Gretchen Cordy had learned a lot about this game.

Although luckily-- and here's the best part-- John hadn't seemed to figure out yet that he really didn't have much of a chance against either of them.

Nope. And he wasn't going to figure that out, either. Not today.

Not if Vecepia had anything to say about it.

"You know, guys," she said, sighing and standing up, "This is fascinating and all, but we're supposed to leave for Tribal in about ten minutes. So I say we sort of... you know.. wrap this up, and get ready to go."

She smiled at Gretchen, innocently.

"No offense," she added. "I mean, I don't mean to rush you guys. By all means, please do finish your negotiations. I can wait."





^^




The three Manakais arrived at Tribal Council about an hour later.

They walked through the doorway, one after another. John in front, with the immunity lei around his neck. Gretchen, in the rear, looking beaten and depressed. And Vecepia, as always, who liked to hang out anonymously in the middle of the pack.

They took their seats in front of the jury.

And to a man, nearly every single juror looked surprised at not seeing immunity around Gretchen's neck tonight. Tina and Kathy, in particular, look shocked.

What had happened?

"My shoulder's fine," Gretchen replied, as Jeff asked the question and brought all the jurors up to speed on what had gone down today. "It just popped out of its socket a little bit during the immunity challenge."

"Popped out?" Jeff asked, concerned.

"She dislocated it," John clarified. "It popped out of its socket, and at camp I was able to pop it right back in."

Jeff winced. Ouch. "Did that hurt?"

"Uh, yeah," Gretchen nodded, her face still half-covered with ash. "Have you ever dislocated a shoulder, Jeff? It hurt like sh..."

Oops.

She caught herself, and quickly corrected her language. "It hurt a lot."

She shrugged and laughed self-consciously towards the jury. Several of the jurors laughed right along with her. You didn't catch Gretchen swearing all that often.

"So do you think that your shoulder injury is going to cost you a million dollars tonight?" came the follow up question.

"Oh, I would think so," Gretchen sighed.

"And does that bother you?"

"Why would it bother me?"

"Well I'm just saying," said Jeff, "If I was sitting there, and if I knew that I was pretty much a slam dunk in a Survivor jury, I'd probably be pissed off if an injury is the only reason I wasn't going to be there." He paused. "But maybe that's just me."

Gretchen just sighed, once. She held up her arms in a shrug. It was clear she had already made peace with this.

"Hey, what can I do?" she asked, rhetorically. "What happened, happened. John won immunity. I'm not going to the final two. It's over."

Jeff turned and looked over at tonight's immunity winner.

He looked John Carroll directly in the eyes.

"John, do you have a pretty good idea of how you are going to vote tonight?"

"Yes."

"Do we need to sit here and talk about this any more?"

"No."

John had been waiting to cast this vote all day. In his opinion, this entire trip to Tribal Council hadn't even been necessary.

As Vecepia said earlier... take Gretchen to the end? Willingly? Over a former winner?

Fat chance!

What game did they think he had been playing out here?

Since day one, John Carroll had been playing to win.

"Alright," nodded Jeff. "Gretchen, you won't be voting, because you can only vote for Vee. Vee, you won't be voting, because you can only vote for Gretchen. So your votes will cancel each other out."

The two women nodded. They understood.

"John," said Jeff, "You will be the only one going up there and casting a vote. And by doing so, you will in effect be choosing your opponent for the final two."

He nodded.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"I am."

"Then John," announced Jeff, "It is time to vote."




^^




John Carroll stood up, and he took a deep breath.

He took a glance over at the Manakai jury.

Then he walked over to the voting confessional.

He picked up the large black pen.

He uncapped it.

Then he lowered it to the paper and wrote eight letters.

No surprises tonight. This vote had been obvious.

Gretchen.

He held up the ballot to the camera in front of him.

"You are without a doubt," he smiled, "The biggest pain in the ass I have ever played against in my life. You were unkillable. You were unstoppable. And I kind of feel like I'm only standing here because of an act of God." He shrugged. "But that being said, I don't feel bad about it... because I am the one standing here, and you're not. And there's no way I can let you get to the end."

He dropped the fatal ballot into the box.

"I loved you before I came out to Hawaii," he added, "And I love you even more now. You played a hell of a game, Gretchen. It was an honor to know you. Just like you said so often today during the torch walk, you'll be known as the last of the good ones."

^^

The Manakais were back in their seats. The cameras were rolling. And it was time for the money shot. Everybody knew what was going to happen.

Vecepia reached over and she patted Gretchen on the back. She was going to miss her.

The jury tensed. The players were ready.

It looked like the moment was here.

Jeff opened the ballot box, and he pulled out the solitary vote. He looked at it and he frowned, sadly. Why did the fan favorites always have to leave at the final three? Maybe it was just Survivor that was cursed.

"The fourteenth... and last... player voted out of the game..."

He opened the vote.

He turned it around, somberly.


"Gretchen."


Gretchen Cordy, who of course had known this was coming, simply nodded once and reached back to pick up her torch. She thanked John. She thanked Vecepia. And then she gave them each a final good bye hug. John whispered into her ear to keep her arm iced up for a couple of days.

And then it was over.

Gretchen took her torch, she brought it up before Jeff, and she watched, resigned, as he lowered the snuffer for good.

"The tribe has spoken."

And just like that, the Kekos officially died.

It had been just T.M.A. all along. Too many Ahis. From a Keko point of view, the bad guys had officially won.

Gretchen waved to the jury, she thanked Jeff one last time, and then she turned and disappeared into the darkness, her backpack in her hand. And with that, the Hawaiian jungle claimed its fourteenth, and final, victim.

All that were left now were John and Vecepia.

Ahi against Ahi.

Man against woman.

Newcomer against former winner.

The final two.

There were a lot of strange dynamics that were going to be greeting this jury tomorrow.

This was bound to be interesting.

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